1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to heat-dissipating members and thermal heads attached to such heat-dissipating members. The present invention particularly relates to a heat-dissipating member for dissipating the heat of a thermal head heated a high temperature during printing and also relates to a thermal head attached to a heat-dissipating member.
2. Description of the Related Art
A known thermal head will now be described using a thermal transfer printer disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-144616 (hereinafter referred to as Patent Document 1).
With reference to FIG. 7, the thermal transfer printer 31 includes a head mount 33 and a thermal head 32 mounted thereunder.
The head mount 33 is made of metal such as aluminum and attached to a left end portion of a head lever 34.
The head lever 34 includes a support section 34a located on the right end thereof and is swingable about the support section 34a. 
The thermal head 32 includes a plurality of heating elements (not shown) arranged under the lower face thereof. A rotatable platen roller 35 is disposed below the lower face of the thermal head 32. The swing of the head lever 34 about the support section 34a allows the thermal head 32 to be brought into contact with or separated from the platen roller 35, that is, the swing allows the thermal head 32 to be kept in a head-up mode or a head-down mode.
A recording sheet 36 and an ink ribbon 37 are fed between the thermal head 32 and the platen roller 35.
A rotatable sheet-feeding roller 38 and a pressing roller 39 pressed against the sheet-feeding roller 38 are arranged on the left side of the platen roller 35. The recording sheet 36 fed between the thermal head 32 and the platen roller 35 can be moved in the direction indicated by Arrow A or B in such a manner that the sheet-feeding roller 38 is driven with a motor (not shown).
The operation of the thermal transfer printer 31 including the known thermal head 32 will now be described. A ribbon cassette (not shown) containing the ink ribbon 37 is mounted on a cassette-mounting section (not shown) in such a manner that the thermal head 32 is kept in the head-up mode, whereby the ink ribbon 37 is fed between the raised thermal head 32 and the platen roller 35.
The recording sheet 36 is fed below the ink ribbon 37 and the recording sheet 36 and the ink ribbon 37 are then pinched between the sheet-feeding roller 38 and the pressing roller 39.
While the recording sheet 36 and the ink ribbon 37 are being fed, the recording sheet 36 and the ink ribbon 37 are pressed against the platen roller 35 by lowering the thermal head 32 and the heating elements are selectively allowed to generate heat depending on printing data.
The sheet-feeding roller 38 is driven simultaneously with the above operation such that the recording sheet 36 and the ink ribbon 37 are moved in the direction indicated by Arrow A, whereby ink on the ink ribbon 37 is thermally transferred to the recording sheet 36, so that a desired image is printed on the recording sheet 36.
If the thermal head 32 is heated to a high temperature by heat generated from the heating elements during printing, the heat is dissipated from the head mount 33.
The thermal head 32 has a problem that the thermal head 32 is heated to a temperature higher than a predetermined temperature and the heat dissipation from the head mount 33 is insufficient if a plurality of printing sheets are continuously subjected to printing.
In order to solve such a problem, a known plate-shaped heat-dissipating member (not shown) made of a metal material, such as aluminum, having high heat conductivity may be attached to the head mount 33. In order that the thermal head 32 heated to a temperature higher than a predetermined temperature by continuous printing is cooled such that normal printing can be performed, the known heat-dissipating member must have a large heat dissipation area. Therefore, the known heat-dissipating member has a problem that the size thereof is large and the material cost thereof is high. Furthermore, the thermal head 32 including the known heat-dissipating member has a problem that the size thereof is large.